mural

Forms

mural m or f (masculine and feminine plural murales)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin murālis (“of a wall”), a learned word.^[2][3][1] The Latin adjective is formed mūrus (“wall”) with the suffix -ālis.^[4][5] Wiktionary also allows a Spanish formation from muro with -al.^[1] The Spanish word for “wall”, from the same Latin noun, is recorded from Berceo, and Corominas lists the adjective among its derivatives without a date.^[6][7]

The same Latin word was taken as Portuguese mural, Catalan mural, French mural and Italian murale.^{[8][9][10][11]} French borrowed it about 1355 as a term of Roman antiquities, in a phrase copied from the Latin name of the mural crown.^[12] muralla has a separate source: it comes from Italian muraglia, from Latin mūrālia, the neuter plural of the adjective.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest dated hit is of 1385, in Juan Fernández de Heredia's Gran crónica de España, which explains qual era dicha corona mural “what was called a mural crown”.^[13][14] This was the Roman award for the first soldier to climb the wall of a besieged city; the same phrase recurs in 15th-century texts and in Juan del Encina's translation of Virgil's Bucolics (1496), beside the civic and obsidional crowns.^[13][3] An earlier-dated hit, in the Sevillana medicina of Juan de Aviñón, is quoted from the printed edition of 1545.^[13]

Semantic evolution

For centuries the adjective lived mainly in the phrase corona mural: the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it simply as “what belongs to a wall” and quotes Mariana on the mural crown given to the first man up the wall.^[15] Terreros has the same, with French murale and Italian murale.^[16] In 1846 Domínguez also recorded a nautical noun, short for the mural quadrant.^[17] The Academy gave the Latin etymology in 1884, and in 1899 added the sense of things that, spread out, cover much of a wall, as in mapa mural “wall map”.^[18][19]

The noun un mural for a wall painting grew in the 20th century: Santamaría noted it in Mexico as an adjective often used as a noun, chiefly of paintings, and the Academy's dictionary has the noun by 2001.^[20][21] Vox also gives a poster or notice on a wall.^[22] In heraldry the corona mural tops the arms of many towns, shaped like the top of a battlemented tower.^[3]

Timeline

• 1385 – Juan Fernández de Heredia's Gran crónica de España uses corona mural.^[13][14]
• 1496 – Juan del Encina writes of the coronas cívicas, murales y obsidionales in his translation of Virgil.^[13]
• c. 1535–1557 – Fernández de Oviedo lists the mural crown among the Roman crowns.^[13]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines the adjective and quotes Mariana.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology from Latin muralis.^[18]
• 1899 – the Academy adds the sense of things that cover a large part of a wall.^[19]
• 1959 – Santamaría records the noun for a wall painting in Mexico.^[20]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to a wall (muro): decoración mural.^[2][23]
2. Of a thing: covering a good part of a wall when spread out: mapa mural.^[2]

Noun

1. A mural: a painting or decoration made on or fixed to a wall: Pintaron un mural enorme en la fachada de la escuela.^[2][23][1]
2. A large poster or notice placed on a wall.^[22]

Word family

• muralista

Related words

• muro
• muralla
• Latin murālis

Usage notes

Corona mural is the Roman crown given to the first soldier over the wall of a besieged city, and in heraldry the crown in the shape of a battlemented tower that tops the arms of many towns.^[15][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. mural
3. ^ a b c d Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 468
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. mūrālis
5. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. murālis
6. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 193
7. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. muro
8. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. mural
9. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. mural
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 446
12. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. mural
13. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. mural
14. ^ a b Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. mural
15. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 633
16. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 2, 639
17. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 2, 1235
18. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 728
19. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 682
20. ^ a b Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 747
21. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. mural
22. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. mural
23. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. mural